Life

Lange, Ryf Rewrite the Kona Record Book

Daniela Ryf of Switzerland and Germany's Patrick Lange turn in record-setting performances en route to defending their world titles.

On a perfect day with light winds and some of the mildest temperatures in the 40-year history of the IRONMAN World Championship, defending champions Patrick Lange and Daniela Ryf shattered their own course records in what will go down as the fastest race in race history. Ryf's win was particularly historic, as she also broke the overall IRONMAN record with an 8:26:18 finish. That bested Mel Hauschildt's time of 8:31:05 from the IRONMAN North American Championship in May. As if that wasn't impressive enough, Ryf was stung by a jellyfish just before the swim start and questioned whether or not she would be able to make it through the swim.

"I thought, 'I can't give up,' because I'm the defending champion, and I knew little kids would be watching the race, but I didn't know if I could make it through 3.8K in such pain. It was horrible," Ryf said at the finish. "But I told myself that I couldn’t give up because you never know what can happen out here."

Not to be overshadowed by Ryf's race for the ages, Lange's first order of business after his record-setting performance was to propose to his girlfriend, Julia. She said yes.

"This was the most intense, most beautiful, most amazing thing that I've ever experienced in my life—after just asking Julia to marry me," Lange said of a day that will be hard top.

Women's Race

To no surprise, Lucy Charles smashed the swim course record, exiting the water in 48:14 with a gap of nearly three minutes on fellow super-swimmer Lauren Brandon. IRONMAN Asia-Pacific champion Teresa Adam was next onto the pier another minute behind, leading out a group that included Helle Frederiksen, Sarah True and Liz Blatchford.

Ryf found herself more than nine minutes back after battling through Kailua Bay in 57:26. The sting from the jellyfish didn't last long, however, as the three-time defending champ made her way through the field, moving from 15th to second by the 30-mile mark. Sarah Crowley was the only athlete able to keep pace with the defending champ, but the pair of chasers couldn't chip away much at Charles' lead as they powered up the hill to Hawi.

Crowley broke shortly after the turnaround, as Ryf surged in an attempt to catch Charles before the start of the marathon. Charle'’ four-minute lead quickly evaporated over the next 40 miles, and in a near replay of last year, Ryf passed Charles near mile-marker 105 and wouldn’t surrender the lead for the rest of the day. In what was no doubt the most impressive of all of today’s record-breaking splits, Ryf finished the ride in 4:26:06 after riding at an average pace of more than 25 mph. That split took 18 minutes off the previous course record.

Charles entered T2 just 1:40 behind Ryf, but the three-time champ made quick work of extending her lead on the out-and-back along Ali'i Drive. Corinne Abraham and Crowley were the next athletes onto the run, with race rookies Sarah True and Anne Haug not far behind.

By the time Ryf made it out to the Energy Lab and was headed back to town, her lead had grown to eight minutes, and the only question that remained was how far she'd lower her own course record. Charles remained steady in second, and the real race was happening between Haug and True for the final spot on the podium. True managed to hold off her fellow Olympian until the 22-mile mark, when Haug made a decisive pass as they headed for home.

By that point, Ryf was already storming down Ali'i Drive with a massive lead for the fourth year in a row, but on this occasion, she was doing it in a time that seemed truly impossible at the beginning of the day. She broke the tape in 8:26:16—20 minutes, 30 seconds faster than her course record from 2016.

"What a day, I still can't believe what happened," said Ryf at the post-race press conference. "Before the race I said I wanted to do races that people would remember."

Charles was next across the line 10 minutes later, posting the second-fastest time in race history. Haug rounded out the podium in her Kona debut, ahead of True and three-time champion Mirinda Carfrae, who finished fourth and fifth, respectively. All of the top ten women finished in under nine hours.

Men's Race

Josh Amberger led a pack of nine athletes out of the water in 47:39, with a group that included Tim O’Donnell and Javier Gomez in tow. The first of the uberbikers to make his way out of Kailua Bay was Andrew Starykowicz, just under two minutes behind Amberger. Bike course record-holder Cameron Wurf and 2014 IRONMAN World Champion Sebastian Kienle exited the water another minute back, and Kienle found himself with a flat tire in the opening mile and needed a rear wheel swap before he could get his signature lead underway. Reigning runner-up Lionel Sanders had the most work to do out of the water, finding himself 6:21 down coming out of T2.

Starykowicz and Wurf wasted no time taking control of the ride, bringing along Frenchman Anthony Costes up to the turn at Kawaihae. The pair of leaders swapped the front position a handful of times on the climb up to the turnaround at Hawi, before Costes dropped off and Amberger moved into third. Wurf put in a big surge to take the lead as the trio started their descent, with the winds as still as they've ever been at the top of the course.

As the leaders made their way down to Kawaihae and then back onto the Queen K, it was clear that Starykowicz didn’t have the legs to attack the course record, but Wurf never wavered from riding a record pace for the second straight year. He flew into town with a four-minute lead after an incredible 4:09:06 bike split, shaving three minutes, 48 seconds off his record-setting ride from a year ago. Starykowicz was next into transition, but a large group of elite runners including Lange, Bart Aernouts, Braden Currie and Tim O’Donnell rolled into T2 just a few minutes later, ready to take control of the race from the super-cyclists.

Wurf ran strong for the opening 10K, as Lange, Currie and Aernouts ran in lockstep along Ali'i Drive giving chase. Lange finally broke away and overtook Wurf 10 miles in, with Aernouts also making his way past Wurf a few miles later. Currie and O'Donnell ran side-by-side as the five leaders climbed Palani Road and headed toward the Energy Lab. Aernouts kept the gap to Lange hovering around two minutes throughout the trip out to the Lab, but he couldn't make up any ground on the defending champion. The win was never in doubt for Lange as he turned the screws on the way back to town, running just off the pace of his record-setting marathon from 2016.

"After 8K I found my running legs and the mental part of it started to feel really good," said Lange in the post-race press conference. "Madame Pele was with us today and gave us the best conditions. She probably knew it was the 40th anniversary of the best race in the world."

The big mover over the final 10K was last year’s third-place finisher, David McNamee, who surged past O’Donnell and Currie to move into third. Lange broke the tape for his second record-setting win, this time becoming the first athlete in history to finish in under eight hours. His time of 7:52:39 carved nearly nine minutes off his record from a year ago. Aernouts was next across the line four minutes later, finishing on the Kona podium for the first time. McNamme closed with third-fastest marathon of the day to take third for the second year in a row. After trading blows throughout the entire marathon, O’Donnell and Currie finished fourth and fifth, respectively.

The best of the day

Germany’s Patrick Lange became the first person to finish the IRONMAN World Championship in under 8 Hours

Patrick Lange’s (DEU) time of 7:52:39 broke his own course best set in 2017 of 8:01:40.

celebrated by proposing to his girlfriend, Julia Hofmann at the finish line

Patrick Lange’s manager Jan Sibbersen also raced and set a new swim course best at the IRONMAN World Championship with a time of 46:30, breaking the previous best of 46:41 (Lars Jorgensen) that stood for 20 years.

Kyle and Brent Pease became just the second special team to ever finish the IRONMAN World Championship; The last team to do so was Dick and Rick Hoyt in 1999.

Liz McTernan (GBR) became the second female hand cyclist to ever finish the IRONMAN World Championship; The last women hand cyclist to finish was Minda Dentler (USA) in 2013 (14:39:14). McTernan now also holds fastest time for female hand cyclists (14:21:13)

Hiromu Inada (Japan) at 85 and 11 months became the oldest competitor to ever finish an IRONMAN

Bart Aeronaut (BEL) also finished under 8 hours with a time of 7:56:41.

Daniela Ryf’s (CHE) time of 8:26:18 broke her own course best set in 2016 of 8:46:46.

Lucy Charles (GBR) set a new swim course best of 48:14, beating Jodi Jackson’s 48:43 time set in 1991.

Cameron Wurf (AUS) set a new bike course best of 4:09:06 beating the previous best of 4:12:54 he set himself in 2017.

Ryf set a new bike course best for the women in 4:26:07. The previous best time was 4:44:19 set in 2001 by Karin Thuerig.